Your Right to Know

By Erik EckholmThe New York Times • Wednesday January 15, 2014 5:55 AM

A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled yesterday that the state’s constitutional amendment barring
same-sex marriage violates the federal Constitution, the latest in a string of legal victories for
gay rights.

The state’s ban on marriage by gay couples is “an arbitrary, irrational exclusion of just one
class of Oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit,” wrote Judge Terence C. Kern of U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, in Tulsa, deciding a 9-year-old case. . The
amendment, he said, is based on “moral disapproval” and does not advance the state’s asserted
interests in promoting heterosexual marriage or the welfare of children.

The decision will not take effect immediately, and Oklahoma is almost certain to appeal, leaving
prospects uncertain for gay couples in the state.

The ruling comes less than a month after a federal judge in Utah reached the same conclusion,
declaring that state’s restrictive marriage amendment to be unconstitutional. About 1,300 couples
rushed to marry before Utah obtained a temporary stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, blocking further
marriages while the issue is considered by a federal appeals court.

In view of the Utah ruling, Kern stayed his decision in anticipation of an appeal by Oklahoma to
the same appeals court, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Over the past year, the number of states authorizing same-sex marriage, whether through
legislative action or court order, has grown to 17, or 18 if Utah is included.

But yesterday’s decision was only the third time that a federal court has acted to void a state
constitutional amendment on marriage.

More than 30 states have passed amendments or laws restricting marriage to a man and a
woman.